


Just in Time for Christmas

by mintonarel



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Omega Stiles Stilinski, Soulmarks, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22091485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintonarel/pseuds/mintonarel
Summary: Stiles didn't see what was the point in worrying about meeting your soulmate. Your marks would tell you and that's that.So, of course, Stiles would touch his soulmate and not know who they are.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 30
Kudos: 853
Collections: The Sterek Secret Santa - Edition 2019





	Just in Time for Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for [artisticpixie](https://artisticpixie.tumblr.com/) for the [Sterek Secret Santa Gift Exhange 2019](https://stereksecretsanta.tumblr.com/). This is an edited version from what you will find on that blog because I finally had time to do a read through.
> 
> I had been wanting to do a Soulmate AU for a while and this was my perfect excuse.
> 
> Hope you like it! :)

Stiles' soulmark was often described as a fox’s tail (he learned to say it like that when he learned there was an actual plant named foxtail that looked nothing like it), it was a reddish swoop on his chest near his left shoulder that ended on a white tip. He didn’t pay it too much attention, or at least not as much as Scott, who began imagining his own soulmark on any girl he had a crush on. Stiles didn’t see what was the point, there was only one person his soulmark would attach to, and that was his soulmate, whenever they first touched. And according to the stories about how soulmates met, he would know even before that.

Stories about meeting your soulmate, of course, were a whole Thing. Everyone was always trying to one up each other in how marvelously magical their own experience had been. Stiles found it kind of annoying, since most of them really boiled down to “we met, we touched, our soulmarks verified that we were meant for each other, the end.” His own parents’ story was never too embellished. Noah pulled Claudia over and while handing her a ticket for speeding that she unsuccessfully tried to charm her way out of, they realized they were soulmates. His dad would always finish the story by saying he still gave her the ticket, which always got a big laugh.

Stiles always suspected that last bit of the story to be made up.

So, of course, the one guy who thought meeting your soulmate would be as easy as touching them would end up touching his soulmate and not knowing who they are.

It wasn’t his fault, ok? There had been a kanima. Jackson, asshole of the year (and of course it would be Jackson’s fault, the guy lived to torment him), had managed to get some random Alpha to bite him. Of course Jackson, asshole of the decade, did not take to the bite well and began turning into a monster. 

Thankfully, there are protocols for things like these. Still, when the scent of omega lured Jackson’s then reptilian ass to The Jungle, the call to evacuate created a bit of a panic.

Within that panic the lights went off and someone grabbed Stiles’ arm, which made him feel like his heart was about to burst out of his chest and like he needed that hand to stay there for the rest of his life.

He thought he was having a panic attack.

Scott found his other arm and pulled him, taking him quickly outside to safety alongside Isaac. Paramedics outside found him, asked what was wrong and Stiles said he was having a panic attack. In his defense, he did not know what being touched by your soulmate for the first time feels like. Since he seemed to only be having a mild panic attack (that wasn’t actually a panic attack) and the ambulances were needed for people paralyzed by kanima poison, one of Beacon Hill’s deputies took him home. Stiles didn’t want to leave, he had a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something or someone, but the deputy insisted.

Stiles went to bed, feeling sad but not understanding why.

When he saw himself shirtless in the mirror next morning, he understood. His soulmark was there, the familiar red and white swoop, but now another swoop had joined it. This one was jet black and circled around his own. Like a shield, Stiles thought. 

There are stories of people in similar situations to Stiles’ but most of them sounded like romance novels where the circumstances were laughable and the soulmarks pulled both of the bonded pair to meet. Stiles felt no pull, just an absence.

He woke up and turned around expecting someone to be there by his side. He grabbed his phone and expected to be able to call someone to tell them how his day had gone. When his heat came around, no toy was good enough. He miserably whined as he tried to call out the name of someone that should be there. It’s like his body knew he had an Alpha, and was protesting every moment that they were not together. 

It’s not like he hadn’t tried to find him. He had gone to back to The Jungle more than once, but the staff had said that no lone Alpha had come with the same problem. The newspaper had a section in which people who thought destiny needed a hand in putting soulmates together would publish their own soulmarks and wait for people who thought might make a good match for them to contact them. Stiles didn’t know if it worked for those people but it certainly didn’t work for him.

Beacon Hills was not that large of a town, the rumor mill should have discovered another person looking for their soulmate at by now. His father asked the nosiest of his deputies and none had an answer. For a moment Stiles worried that Jackson, asshole of the century, had managed to kill his soulmate but no one had died during the incident.

Stiles was close to simply parading the town shirtless and hope for the best. He only didn’t because although the incident had happened in June, it was now December and way too cold to be parading around town shirtless.

He also didn’t do it because a sad voice inside him was telling him that his soulmate was out there, and he knew who he was, and was thanking all his stars that he had managed to get away from him the way he did.

Stiles knew he wasn’t a model omega. For starters, he deeply questioned the idea of a model omega and had written a long piece for an op-ed on the town’s local news website on how that idea was more a cultural than biological thing. He had gotten some hate mail out of that. He was loud, he didn’t have the graceful coordination omegas were supposed to have, and he reacted to authority figures with a mixture of mockery and anger. He’d always worried that his personality might trump destiny, even one confirmed by his soulmark.

When he shared this with his father, the older beta hugged him tightly. “Don’t even think that. There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“You’re suppose to say that, you’re my dad,” Stiles said, trying his best not to cry. 

“Any Alpha, beta, or omega would be lucky to have you.” His father continued. “You just have to be patient, I’m sure they’ll show up soon.”

Stiles wiped his nose on his sleeve. “But it’s been almost half a year. Why haven’t they tried to find me?”

“Maybe they have, just in a place you wouldn’t usually think of,” his father answered. “Come on, it’s not like you to give up.”

Stiles nodded and took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

“Shouldn’t we be thinking the same, though? We’re soulmates.” Stiles protested.

“Soulmates are complementary, not the same. Who knows where he’s been looking for you.”

“I just wish I could find them before my heat this January,” Stiles added. “Last one was unbearable.”

His father nodded, obviously still worried. “By the way,” he said, “what would you think of spending Christmas Eve at the Hales?”

It was a distraction, and it worked. Stiles perked up immediately. “The Hales? They invited you?”

“They invited us,” Noah corrected him. “When I told Laura’s mother we would be spending the holiday alone, she insisted.”

Usually they’d spend it with Scott and Melissa but they had taken advantage of Scott’s new salary and booked a cruise to warmer weathers. 

“Sounds great! I’ll bake a pie or something.”

“I’m sure Talia had that in mind when she invited us,” Noah said with a grin.

Talia Hale, Alpha of the Hale pack and protector of Beacon Hills and most of the land surrounding it, had a sweet tooth. So did her children, and Stiles’ confections at any bake sale they happened to appear at were always praised by her and fought over by them. It was almost endearing.

Alpha Talia was also a rarity in that all of her children were Alphas. Laura, the oldest, would replace her mom after she retired but in the meantime was his father’s most trusted officer. Next was Derek, the most handsome man in all of Beacon Hills as far as Stiles was concerned, who hid a kind heart under a gruff exterior. Then was Cora, who was Stiles’ age and the most intimidating girl Stiles had ever met. Finally, George, a jock through and through.

Every omega in Beacon Hills enjoyed seeing any of them around town. So did the alphas and betas, for that matter. They were all beautiful in the distinct Hale way: with dark hair, green eyes, and tan skin. More importantly, they were nice. Other Alphas always seemed to be close to a brawl to show superiority among each other. The Hales, however, seemed to always come together to help whoever needed it in town.

When Stiles saw Derek around town, he was always helping someone. Once, he saw him carrying some furniture, apparently helping a younger couple move into their new apartment, his arms flexing ever so temptingly. He had been driving to see his father with a healthy lunch otherwise he would’ve stopped and stared. More. There had also been that time when he walked out of his house and saw Derek mowing the neighbor’s lawn. Shirtless. Stiles got on his jeep and fled the scene before Derek could see him drooling. No use getting too attached to that scene, anyway, Derek had already found his soulmate. Laura had told his dad as much when he asked her.

Which was a shame because Derek, as far as Stiles was concerned, was the perfect Alpha. Tall but not too tall. Wide and muscular but more like a fitness model than a bodybuilder. Stiles had spent more than one heat imagining those strong hands on him, keeping him still as the Alpha rocked his hips back and forth. And while he was famous for his trademark frown, his smile when he bit into one of Stiles’ baked goods was dazzling. He seemed to have specially enjoyed a pecan pie at the last bake sale.

“I’ll make a pecan pie, Alpha Talia seemed to like that at the Fall Festival,” Stiles said.

He enjoyed baking, not only because the process did wonders against his anxiety but also because at some point he had felt that was the only thing he had to convince his soulmate he was worth keeping. He was a bit better in the self esteem department nowadays, but he still hoped for the day he could make his soulmate the perfect birthday cake. At least three tears high and lavishly decorated. No fondant.

After some digging around for special recipes and deciding he would wow the town’s Alpha before asking for her help on finding his lost soulmate, Stiles landed on a bourbon pecan pie recipe that looked too good not to make. He learned from his father that Laura liked cheesecake and that sounded way too much like a sneaky way to make him bring cheesecake so he obliged.

So, on the early afternoon of the 24th, Stiles and Noah rang the bell to the Hale mansion. Noah had a cheesecake on one hand and a bourbon pecan pie in the other. Stiles had yet another bourbon pecan pie, because he remembered the Hales were a large family, and a box filled with gingerbread wolves in the other. 

“I may have overdone it,” Stiles said to his dad for the twentieth time that day.

“I don’t think they’ll mind,” he answered.

The door opened and Talia Hale greeted them with a warm smile and a sweater with a Christmas tree with small LED lights.

“Noah, you made it! We’re so glad you’re here. Both of you. Come in, come in. Cora, take their coats. And what’s this? Pecan pie! Two of them! They smell so lovely, I’m tempted to keep one all to myself. George, please take these to the kitchen, we’ll bring them out for dessert. And cheesecake? Did Laura ask for this? Of course she did, I’m sure. That girl would have you slaving over a hot oven all day if she could. Cora, take it to the kitchen, too, and don’t let Laura stick her finger in it. Come with me, we’re in the living room at the moment. I heard Claudia’s jeep approaching and I simply had to be the first to greet you. Derek can bring some mulled wine or hot cocoa to warm you up. Derek? Derek why are you standing there like that?”

Stiles stopped when he saw him, not understanding why Derek was looking at him so intensely. Derek was famous for how his look could stop other werewolves in their tracks, but this wasn’t a look of anger at all. In fact, Derek was looking at Stiles like he had found something dear that had been lost. Stiles wanted to ask why Derek looked at him that way, but he couldn’t bring himself to voice the question because he felt he already knew the answer.

“Stiles?” Noah’s voice was low but just as hopeful as the omega felt.

Derek walked towards Stiles, slowly but surely. The noise from the living room seemed to have vanished, and Stiles could only hear the thumping of his own heart, in rhythm to Derek’s footsteps. Stiles noticed the way the Alpha’s chest, shoulders and arms stretched the forest green sweater he was wearing. The way his jeans hugged his strong legs. Derek had let his beard grow ever so slightly, and it framed his lips perfectly. His green eyes were focused on him like none had ever been before.

“I knew it was you,” he whispered and only Stiles could hear him. He reached out to touch Stiles’ cheek. The moment Derek’s fingers made contact Stiles sighed with relief. How was it possible he had not realized earlier? It was so obvious. What other Alpha could even come close to being right for Stiles the way Derek was?

Stiles was about to drop the box of cookies and jump into Derek’s arms when Talia stopped them.

“Derek Christopher Hale,” she said, firm. It was only because she was Derek’s Alpha that she was able to stop him. “You will behave yourself. You know he’s mated.”

Stiles felt like he could hear a record scratch at the sound of that statement.

“I’m not mated,” he said, turning to Talia. Some seconds of confused silence followed. “I mean, I am, his soulmark appeared around mine but-”

“See?” Derek said to Laura, who at some point had appeared next to her mother. “I told you.”

“You said Stiles had found his soulmate.” Laura said, looking accusingly at Noah.

“I said it was complicated,” Noah answered, defensively.

“You said you had talked to him.” It was now Talia who looked accusingly at Laura.

“I did!” Laura almost yelled. “Kinda,” she added, lower.

“You said Derek had found his soulmate,” Noah said to Laura, looking confused.

“He did!” Laura answered. “I mean, not physically, but he did.”

The argument went on, both Laura and Noah trying to figure what had happened while Talia shook her head in disbelief. Stiles himself was curious, but he was ok with figuring out the details later. Right now, Derek’s hand had found his hip and when he turned to face him, the Alpha was looking at him like he was the only thing that mattered in the whole world. Stiles felt sure that his eyes said the same thing.

Stiles moved his free hand to Derek’s shoulder, pulling him forward, and when they kissed Stiles could only think two things:

1) If someone were to take a photo of them now, it would look like the cover for a Christmas themed romantic novel: both of them wearing sweaters, Stiles holding a box of gingerbread wolves on one hand, while standing on a tastefully decorated hallway. It would probably have an awfully cheesy but appropriate title like “Home for the Holidays” or “Just in time for Christmas.”

2) Every single sickly sweet description on how it felt to kiss your soulmate for the first time on those novels was right. It was like finally finding the one place where you belong. It was like falling into a freshly baked batch of your favorite cookie. It was like a thousand boxes of your favorite chocolate. It was like falling asleep into a dream you’d always want to go back to. 

When they finally broke the kiss, Derek rested his forehead on Stiles’ and inhaled deeply. Stiles chuckled, loving the way Derek’s arms wrapped around him.

Talia cleared her throat, and both of them turned to her like this was the hundredth time she had found them making out, lost to anything and anyone else, and not the first. Noah and Laura were both there, smiling embarrassedly, and so was George, his cell phone out, no doubt recording the moment to annoy Derek.

“George,” Derek said, “I will break your phone.”

“Not before he shares the picture,” Cora said. “Now could you please come over to the living room? Or at least let Stiles give me the cookies before you take him up to your room?”

“He can take Stiles to his room after dinner,” Talia said. “Now, if you please, Derek, some mulled wine for Noah while I introduce Stiles to the rest of the family.”

They share a small kiss and Stiles walks into a living room of smiling faces. The story comes together in pieces. Stiles would’ve found it frustrating if he wasn’t riding a massive high from kissing Derek.

After Derek touched Stiles, he was torn. On the one hand he could feel his soulmate being taken away, on the other he had to make sure people got out safely. He had stayed outside Jungle, hoping for his omega to come back. When that didn’t happen he went to the hospital to check on the victims of the kanima venom, obviously not finding his soulmate among them. For a horrible second he feared the worst, but then was told there had been no casualties. 

He returned to Jungle every so often, but never thought of leaving a message with the staff. He felt foolish, telling someone he had found his mate and had let them go. He relied on Laura as part of the Beacon Hills police department, but after he had learned Stiles was already mated his drive waned.

Had he known Stiles was also looking for his lost soulmate, Derek would’ve shown up at his door, but instead he simply waited for the day he could meet the lucky person that was mated to the author of one of his favorite op-eds in the local news website. He had done a couple of questionable things in his quest to get close to Stiles, like offering to mow the lawn of one of the Stilinski’s neighbors. He of course did it shirtless because if Stiles, like he supposed, matched his soulmark; he was bound to notice it then. Stiles was very sorry he did not stay to watch Derek mow the lawn shirtless that day.

Each detail on how they kept on missing each other made the people in the living room groan with frustration or howl with laughter. Derek had dropped the couch he was holding seconds after Stiles had left the scene of the move, distracted by the feeling of his mate close by.

“Oh, god, did you hurt yourself?” Stiles asked.

“Dropped the couch on his foot,” Erica, a friend of the family said, and everyone laughed. “Thank the stars for werewolf healing.”

Their story blurs into the background as the other couples share the stories of how they met, and when Derek sits besides Stiles it’s too easy for him to lean into his warmth.

Under the watchful eye of their parents (and the teasing eyes of Derek’s siblings) it’s hard to not just excuse themselves so they can make out for a while, see each other’s soulmarks on each other. 

Seats are shuffled for dinner so they can sit together, and after dessert, when everyone is done complimenting Stiles’ pie and cheesecake (and more than one comment on how they expect more baked good from him is made) the Hales’ extended family retires to guest rooms and hotels. Noah correctly guesses Stiles will stay over, and Talia tells Derek he doesn’t have to do the dishes this time, George and Cora had volunteered.

“Don’t be too grateful,” she says at Derek’s surprise. “They also posted several photos of the two of you looking at each other like loons.”

Stiles laughs, both at that and Derek’s frown. The Alpha looks at him and his face instantly softens. “You’re adorable,” he says.

“Thanks,” Stiles says, blushing.

“I mean that literally,” Derek states. “You’re worthy of adoration.”

“Derek,” Cora yells from the kitchen. “We offered to do the dishes precisely so you could do this lovey dovey bs in your room where it’s soundproofed.”

Derek laughs and takes Stiles hand, leading him upstairs. Derek’s bedroom is large, with a queen size bed on one side and a desk on the other. Derek apologizes for the mess and by “mess” Stiles assumes he means the two socks that aren’t in the hamper. Derek closes the door and the kiss they share this time is soft and tender, like a the nuzzle of a mate coming home to their den. Derek guides them to his bed.

They take off their shoes and begin undressing each other slowly. Derek is wearing a button shirt under his sweater and Stiles says “Merry Christmas to me” as he begins to unbutton it. He pulls on it to reveal Derek’s soulmark and his own, both of them together in Derek’s body the same way they are on his. As sure as he was, as right as it had felt to be with Derek the whole day, it was nice to have visual confirmation. Stiles plants a kiss on it and Derek growls low before forcing Stiles out of his own shirt. He stares at the soulmark on Stiles’ body adoringly before licking a stripe from it to Stile’s neck, where he sucks, apparently intent on leaving a mark.

“I’m already marked as yours, you know,” Stiles giggles, but stretches his neck.

His words seem to affect Derek, and the Alpha stops.

“Everything ok?” Stiles asks.

Derek nods, and arranges them so he’s spooning Stiles. He hugs the omega tightly and inhales deeply. Stiles turns his head awkwardly until they face each other.

“I feel your anxiety, you know?” Stiles says. “It’s like mine but different.”

“It’s dumb,” Derek says.

“Anxiety usually is.” Stiles plants a kiss on Derek’s nose. “Tell me.”

“I thought you didn’t want me,” Derek says. “I thought you’d made up an Alpha to keep me away. I thought you thought I was grumpy and mean and-”

Stiles kisses his Alpha, not only because it hurts him to imagine a world where he would be stupid enough not to want Derek, but also because he can’t express with words how wrong he is. Derek returns the kiss, and he seems to get the message.

“I also thought, you know, something like that,” Stiles confesses when they break the kiss. “I thought maybe the Alpha had seen me from a distance and ran away, glad to have dodged this bullet.”

“You’re kidding,” Derek says. “You’re perfect.”

“You say that now but just wait until you have to deal with an actually messy room, or half an hour of anxious blabbering because I have a doctor’s appointment later that day.”

Derek grins.

“No, really, you’re all smiles now but one of these days you’re gonna walk in on me unshowered, half panicked because of some deadline or the other with a half eaten box of cookies in one hand and then what will you do?”

“Good question. I think I’d take that half eaten box of cookies and put it away to eat later, I’d make you some tea to calm you down and help you meet your deadline, and then I would shower with you to fuck any remaining worries out of you.”

Stiles is for once, speechless.

“Does that sound good?”

Stiles nods.

Derek kisses him again, and this time he doesn’t stop. Stiles is glad the room is soundproof because he didn’t know he could be that loud for that long. Derek looks unbearably smug the next morning.

“Stop it,” Stiles says, once he’s awake enough.

“Stop what?” Derek asks innocently. He’s wearing flannel pajamas and enjoying the sight and smell of Stiles wearing one of his shirts.

“Stop staring at me like that. I’m human, your werewolf stamina is gonna have to wait a little longer.”

Derek laughs. “Yeah, specially since mom wants us down for breakfast. Come on, we can shower together, it’ll be my birthday present.”

Stiles rolls his eyes. “Christmas present, Derek. It’s Christmas.”

“It’s also my birthday,” Derek says, pulling Stiles to the edge of the bed.

“Wait, really?”

It takes an emergency run to the only store open in town but Stiles manages to bake his soulmate the first birthday cake. 

Stiles is sure he can improve the recipe for next year.

——

A little extra: The Conversation between Noah and Laura

“You seem frazzled, boss,” Laura said leaving a cup of coffee on Noah’s desk. The sheriff nodded.

“Stiles found his soulmate, but it’s complicated,” he said before taking a sip from his mug.

Laura sighed, enjoying her own cup of coffee. “Yeah, the same thing happened to my brother just yesterday.”

“I don’t think the same thing that happened to my son could happen to two people.”

Laura laughed. “Same with my brother.”

Before either of them could ask the other to elaborate, Officer Parrish yelled there were donuts in the break room.

Six months later both of them will insist that they said much more than that. But they didn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> You can read the lovely fic serenelystrange wrote for me [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/SterekSecretSanta2019/works/21966664).
> 
> You can visit me [here](https://mintonarel.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
